The Marauders Year 5 -Love and Darker Things
by James'SugarQuill
Summary: Follow the Marauders during their fifth year as they finish the Animagus process. How will Lily and Severus' friendship develop as Severus delves further into the dark arts. Written as close to canon as possible.


**Chapter 1 - Dreams**

"Potter! Will you pay attention!"

James Potter looked up sheepishly into the stern face of Professor McGonagall, who was glaring at him from the top of the class.

"As much as you might enjoy having detention every night," She continued, "I have better things to be doing, so you will sit up and focus!"

James slowly straightened up and leaned back in his chair, ruffling his hair as he did so. He tried to pull off a nonchalant and relaxed expression as if he was unfazed by McGonagall's scolding, and exchanged grins with his friend Sirius Black. He now turned his lazy gaze toward his Transfiguration Professor as she began to talk again.

"As all of you know, you will be taking your OWL examinations at the end of this year and many of you still haven't successfully transfigured your mice..."

James began to drift away once more. Despite his tendencies to daydream and trouble making, it was untrue to say that James was a poor student. He was in fact exceptionally bright, and was top of his Transfiguration class. He himself had successfully transformed his mouse into a hat last week, complete with an elaborately detailed (albeit a little rude) design.

Swinging on the back legs of his chair he looked across the classroom to a girl who was absent-mindedly twiddling with her flaming red hair. It was no secret to any one that James Potter had fancied Lily Evans since his first year at Hogwarts. Lily however, had never returned his feelings. Endless bullying of her friend had resulted in Lily's hatred and disgust towards James and his friends. Still, James never gave up on her.

In his eyes she was the only girl he could see himself being with for longer than a few days. Lily was different. She was the only one who stood up to him in year one, when he and Sirius played a particularly cruel prank on a Slytherin. Since that day he had had a crush on her. Lily was smart, kind, and popular. There was also the fact that Lily was one of the only girls who didn't fall for his charm or his cocky smile. She was always unimpressed by James, which drove him crazy.

She was beautiful too. Against his will, James began to stare and watched the light from the window bounce off her long, dark red hair, and as her bright green, almond-shaped eyes look up to Professor McGonagall.

A nudge from Sirius brought him out of his trance.

"You know it's rude to stare right?" he said, smirking to himself.

"Shut up." Said James, who was for the moment without a witty comeback.

Finally admitting defeat, James turned his attention to McGonagall who was explaining things he already knew.

Moments later, the bell rang out signalling the end of class. Packing up his stuff, James followed Sirius and his two other best friends, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, out the door and joined the throng of students in the hallway.

"I'm already hating fifth year," said Sirius, "We haven't been back a month and I'm already behind on three essays."

"Yeah," James agreed, "And I'm getting tired of the whole 'start your study' now speech."

"Although you really should do a little study," said Remus, "our OWL's are really important."

"That's easy for you to say Moony!" remarked Sirius, "You'd be studying even if we had no exams. I can't remember the last time I saw you without a book."

"I still don't approve of that nickname." said Remus, although he was smiling. "If anyone were to overhear..."

"Relax Remus! Nobody's got the slightest idea. Mary McDonald still thinks that you have a badly behaved pet after she heard us talking about your 'furry little problem'." said Sirius.

They all laughed.

"We're still on for tonight though right?" asked Peter.

"Definitely!" said both James and Sirius at the same time.

Now that classes were finished for the day, they all made their way out of the castle and down to the edge of the lake. As October was almost upon them, they wanted to get as much good weather as possible before the air turned cold and the lake began to freeze.

Today the warm sun and light breeze was perfect for relaxing and watching the Giant Squid float about in the warmer shallows. They all sat down by the water's edge and watched the sunlight jump around the smooth surface of the lake. Remus took out a book he was reading, and Peter began pulling up the grass by his feet.

"No don't sit there!" piped James as Sirius was about to sit down on his left.

"What? Why not?" asked Sirius, a little offended.

"No, it's just..." mumbled James in apology, looking over Sirius' shoulder.

Looking up from his book Remus gave a small snigger.

"It's nothing personal Sirius. James just needs to make sure all the girls have a clear view of his irresistibly messy hair."

Sirius followed James' gaze as James scowled at Remus. He had indeed been staring at a group of fifth year girls sitting under the shade of a beech tree, who Sirius noted included Lily Evans. Giving James his owl scowl, Sirius got up and repositioned himself on James' other side by Remus. He lay back lazily and rested his head on his bag.

"Self-absorbed twat!" he said.

But James was no longer listening. He was now rumpling up his hair to make it stand up even more than usual and kept glancing over at the group of girls.

"I really don't see why you're still crushing on Evans so much," said Peter, "Seeing as she hasn't shown desire for you in, well, ever."

"Huh?" said James stupidly, whirling back around to face his friends. They all laughed.

"Hold on Peter," said Remus seriously, "I think she might be coming around. Remember last week she actually called you James."

"Yeah!" said Sirius, joining in, "Rather than the usual 'arrogant', 'big-headed', 'twat', 'git', 'dimwit', or my personal favourite, 'bullying, pestilent pig'. She's definitely smitten."

"Sod the lot of you!" scowled James, punching Sirius in the arm. But Sirius just carried on laughing.

They stayed lounging by the lake for most of the late afternoon, but admitted defeat, along with the rest of the students, when the day progressed into the evening and a chilly bite began to creep into the air. After warming up inside and eating a large dinner in the Great Hall, the four boys made their way upstairs.

As they approached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Remus muttered "Frog legs" and the entrance to the Gryffindor common room swung open. They were welcomed with a blast of warmth as they climbed through the portrait hole and secured themselves the best, comfiest chairs by the fireplace.

Here they remained until late into the evening working on their homework. Remus finished his Potions and Charms essays quite quickly and then helped Peter with his, while James and Sirius exchanged notes and stole a couple of sentences from Remus. After most of the homework was complete, they passed the time by playing Wizards Chess (at which James was anxious to succeed in front of Lily who was nearby, but ended up losing spectacularly to Remus, and proceeded to sulk for the next hour) and Exploding Snap. The common room was practically empty when they finished their last game of cards and all as one walked upstairs to their comfy four-poster beds.

Sirius collapsed onto his bed and let out a moan of frustration.

"I could just fall asleep right now" he said.

"Well don't get too comfortable" said Remus, "We'll have to stay awake another hour or so to make sure everyone else is asleep."

"Couldn't you just wake me up then?"

"C'mon Sirius we only get one shot at this," interjected James, "Find some way to wake yourself up."

Sirius slowly sat up and shook his head trying to stay awake.

"Alright fine!" he said, "How's the potion looking Moony?"

Remus reached underneath his bed and carefully slid out a heavy cauldron. Inside was a thick blue potion which was bubbling at the top.

"Everything's good. It's ready. We just need to add the final ingredient, and that can't be added until just before it's drunk."

"I guess we've got a bit of time on our hands so." said Peter.

The potion was the result of eight months of brewing and was their third attempt (the first two having failed miserably) at getting it right. It was the final stage in a plan the boys had been working on since their second year at Hogwarts. Ever since they had discovered that their best friend Remus turned into a werewolf every full moon, James, Sirius, and Peter had been working on becoming Animagi. After three years of studying, advanced spellwork that many older and greater witches and wizards wouldn't dream of performing, and brewing extremely complicated potions, they had almost reached their goal. All the days of hard work, all the evenings spent working instead of relaxing, and all the years of training and focus had paid off.

Tonight they were going to transform into an animal for the first time. Soon, they would find out their spirit animal and their Animagi form.

An hour passed without any of them saying anything. They could barely contain their excitement. At a quarter past one in the morning, Remus sat up.

"Alright guys it's time."

Sirius practically bounded of his bed. "Finally! Let's do it!"

Sirius, James and Peter all stood around the cauldron as Remus filled three individual glass phials almost to the top with the potion and handed one the each of them.

"Are you sure this is enough Moony?" asked James. He was looking sceptically at his tiny container of potion.

"Yes I'm sure!" said Remus irritably, "You may know all the Transfiguration wandwork, but leave the potions to me. It's strong stuff, and you have to do this a few times before you can transform independently."

"Alright then, if you say so."

Sirius volunteered to go first and Remus handed him a small, sharp silver blade.

"Isn't there something else we could add as a final ingredient?" whined Peter, "Couldn't we add some hairs or spit or something?"

"No it has to be blood." replied Remus gravely.

Sirius drew the blade across the palm of his hand and winced. Thick blood came pouring out shining bright red in the candlelight. Wincing again, he squeezed his hand and let the blood drip into his phial. The change was immediate. The potion transformed from its bright cloudy blue and was now as clear as water. Remus handed Sirius a sterile bandage to clean his hand. Sirius muttered his thanks.

"Well, bottoms up I guess!" he said, once his hand had stopped bleeding, and downed his phial of potion in one. The taste reminded Sirius of salt water, rubber and burning hair all at once. It hit the back of his throat hot like a liqueur. He put his glass down, gagging.

"Yeugh!" he managed to gasp, "That's rotten!"

James tried to suppress a smile. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be!" said Sirius.

Sirius backed away from his bed and made sure he had plenty of space. He took a deep breath and stood up as straight as he could. Remus, Peter, and James were all staring at him. James raised his wand and pointed it at Sirius.

"On the count of three?"

Sirius nodded, but didn't pen his mouth. He was grimacing in anticipation.

"Okay then," said James, his wand arm steady, "One. Two. Three! _Verostend Animam!_"


End file.
